way. Again, the prisoners beside me all held out their hands and clapped. At first I wasn’t willing to take my
hands out my pockets, yet I felt the stare of the white clone, and had no choice but to clap together with them.
We finally reached our destination. I stared with my eyes wide and my mouth open. Here it was, one of the
greatest wonders of the world, the Great Wall, which is said to be visible from the moon. A huge, serrated wall
zigzagged its way along the undulating mountains. Standing on the tremendous and terribly long Great Wall, I
felt insignificant as a speck of dust. We hurried to take our working tools and got ready.
“
Building the Great Wall higher is definitely the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of. We’re not slaves.
Why don’t they let the clones do this kind of tiring job?” I murmured as I lifted up a brick.
“
Ouch” the brick scratched my finger and it bled. Another flashback flickered in my mind……
I’ve been here once, the Great Wall, with Xiang, when we hadn’t been married. He brought me here when my
lecture had ended that day, as a surprise. He made me a lunchbox with my favourite barbecue buns and
pork-stuffed xiao mai and we had our lunch sitting at the top of the Great Wall, watching the picturesque
scenery. We talked and laughed a lot. “I love you,” he whispered in my ear, his arms winding around my waist.
That was a sweet memory. I smiled weakly.
We went to the Great Wall again the next day. Same job, same mission. I wondered how long we needed to
finish it—the 8852-kilometers Great Wall. I walked to the tool supply centre as usual in the morning. A red
clone nudged the white clone, shouted out an indecent remark and giggled loudly. I couldn’t stop my anger. I
tossed my 5-kg spade onto the ground as hard as I could. My action shocked them as they jumped up at once. I
made a face. Their eyes flashed down to my face, narrowed with disgust. I saw the red one nod to the white one,
then he grabbed my arms and slapped me. I lost the balance and sat on the rough floor of the Great Wall. My
wound, just healed, was cut again. When I was about to get up, my fingers was stuck in something hard. I drew
my hand back and saw a crack just behind me. A tricky idea flickered into my mind.
I slipped to the toilet, and took out a piece of paper and a pencil from my pocket. I wrote write a note.
“
Dear Xiang, I’m in the labor camp. And we’re building the Great Wall to be higher every day. Let’s think of
a way to revolute against the “re-education through labor” system together. I hope you will see this note soon. I
just have a feeling that you would come to the Great Wall. Looking forward to receiving your reply!
Love”
I paced back and forth near the crack. I knelt down, pretending to be tying my shoelaces. The clones were
chatting elatedly. My hands flicked up and slipped the note into the crack. Delivering the message strengthened
the fire to fight in my heart. The fire glowed to give me rays of hope.
Afterwards, to check if the note had been taken, I walked to the supply center more than five times a day,
desperate to see if Xiang got the message or not. As days went by, I lost hope, like a candle gradually being
burnt down. The wall between me and Xiang was higher than ever.
Then one day, when I was walking pass the crack, I saw the note had been stamped on. My heart was
pricked. Since then, I never bothered to check the crack ever again.
Fong became bossier by the day.
On the second day, “The position of the brick doesn’t fit at all!”
On the third day, “Why is there a flaw here?”
On the fourth day, “You're making the brick dirty!”
And so on.
Too many complaints for me to remember clearly.
Yet looking at the parts we built on the Great Wall, I was proud of myself, proud of my partners and proud of
my country who owned this piece of massive, scenic and grand historical art.
“
Work now!” Fong was growling at a newcomer who was standing like a log—pure fury that was plain on
her features. I gave the newcomer a short glance, seeing her lips tremble and her transparent eyes filled with
horror. She would get used to it, I thought, thinking about how I had overcome all these at the past.
She brought the bricks over with no grace at all and worked by my side. I watched her paint the brick
flippantly. I couldn’t bear her mistake, even a very little one. So I scolded her mercilessly like a captain. I didn’t
know what caused me to be so angry, but I was pleased with myself as a citizen of the country, dedicating my
best to it.
At dinner, as usual, there was a broadcast.
“
A group of rebels were captured on the East side of the Great Wall. They tried to bomb the Great Wall—the
spirit of Chinese and all our hard effort! Here is the list of rebels, who will be joining us shortly at the labor
camp: Ling, Chang, Jun, Xiang……”
My head exploded when I heard his name. I froze, while everyone clapped their hands. I didn’t at first
understand why the room was spinning or where the hollow roar in my ears was coming from. My heart was
racing and my hands sweating.